DIG IN - Digitalized Wellbeing

There is many oppotunities but also many challenges with the emerging new technology. To handle future production systems means that you have to be able to to successfully manage the interaction between humans and technology. With introduction of new technology there are several risks that often results in more work for the operator (technology-driven development without regard to the human that will use the product) that results in increased stress, increased irritation, reduced joy and satisfaction over the work situation. Companies must take advantage of and attentive the staff well-being and subjective experience; otherwise they will risk losing possible workforce.

To support the interaction and optimize the performance, it is important to understand how the operator is thinking. One way to study this is to look at how the operator experience affects his/her productivity. DIG IN wants to measure the experience of a mounting through controlled lab experiments where it is possible to investigate the influence of external factors.

By measuring heart rate, recovery, stress, sleep patterns and the impact of for example light and sound, valuable information can be collected and used to design the future workplace where social sustainability and well-being are keywords.

DIG IN wants to display the well-being of installers can be measured digitally and demonstrate how data can be used and presented in real-time.

Four technical solutions that measures the bio-data (heart rate, EEG, activity, temperature) will be tested in 12 lab experiments to investigate how the operators productivity and experience are affected by external factors (noise, light and station layout). DIG IN will analyze the technitians to see which data it is possible to obtain and how it can be used and visualized to improve the installer's work from a health perspective.

DIG IN wants to answer the following question within the project: How to improve productivity by improving and visualize the well-being of the operator? The objective is to present a demonstrator where wellbeing can be measured digitally in a simple and relevant way. DIG IN will invite experts from the 'Människan i produktionssystemet" for a one-day workshop to get feedback on the chosen solution.

Funded by

VINNOVA (Public, Sweden)

Purpose

The main purpose of DIG IN is to show that the operator well-being can be measured digitally and to demonstrate how real-time data can be visualised and presented for the operator. Four technical devices, that measure physiological data (heart rate frequency, EEG, arousal and temperature), have been tested in this project during: • 13 lab-experiments to investigate how external factors (light, sound and temperature) affect operator experience and performance. • 5 user studies where three activities were carried out to test the devices usability.

Goal

The goal of this project was to present a demonstrator where well-being is measured digitally and presented in a simple and relevant way.

Results

Demonstrator

The demonstrator that was developed is an interface that visualises physiological data in real-time (Figure 2). The interface also visualise four work environment factors in real-time: temperature, carbon-oxide, light and sound levels. The field below the work environment indicators is a comment field where notifications are shown if a threshold value is exceeded. For instance, if the temperature is too high (above 23 degrees) a message is given together with a suggestion of what to do. Butler metaphor was used as a method of presenting the feedback and information by suggesting the solution to the operator instead of automatically regulating it.

The demonstrator also saves data so that you can study history to compare physiological data with environmental data at a specific time (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Demonstrator showing history

The demonstrator was evaluated during a workshop where experts from ‘People in Production Systems’ (Produktion2030, VINNOVA) were invited to participate. The workshop was held on the 20th of January with 15 participants (8 researchers, 3 company representatives and 4 project participants) and ascertained that the demonstrator had potential. The strengths are that it is flexible, mobile based and that you could connect it with many data sources. It was also considered to be a first step to increasing awareness of measuring well-being at the workplace. Some identified weaknesses include that the data is difficult to interpret and that there could be issues surrounding personal integrity that need to be considered (who should have access to the data).